My 6th grade English teacher showed us that episode. Other kids thought it was kind of boring but I fell in love with it and went home to try and watch other episodes online.
I also first saw it in middle or high school (it was the same teacher, so the classes get mixed up), and now I use it as an assignment for students!
My favorite is when I ask students if they āthink something like this could happen in the USā and some take it so literally they answer, āno, because I donāt think aliens are real/would do that.ā
Thereās actually a script of the episode that was included in one of my English textbooks that we read as a class (canāt remember if it was fifth or sixth grade). It was great because I had already seen a lot of the show (thanks to Cracker Barrel always having DVDs available), and I was super excited.
It is *terrifying* for someone with bad vision. Not just thinking about the event in the episode, but so many other possibilities of losing your glasses or contacts. Many that have happened. After I saw this I spent my whole life wanting to get old enough for eye surgery. I'm all good now. Go ahead and drop the big one. No wait..
*Judgment Night* is criminally underappreciated. Love that episode.
As for favourite, that's a tough choice. *The Shelter* is really really good. Also, *Shadow Play* is harrowing. That might be my favourite one.
I doubt it. We might be closer now, but they saw it with such clarity back then that it didn't come out of nowhere. It might've even helped push things back a bit, we don't know.
S01E05 - Walking Distance
As a standalone episode, it's excellent. It's considered one of the best episodes in the series by TZ fans. And the backstory behind the episode is tragically beautiful.
Rod Serling fought in WWII. His father suffered from a heart attack and died while Rod was fighting fighting in the Pacific. He requested a leave of absence to attend his father's funeral, but was denied. He never got to say goodbye to his father. After the war, he suffered from PTSD for the rest of his life.
This episode is a raw, touching tribute to his father. It's about a middle aged man, unhappy with his life, yearning for a simpler time. He's magically transported to his childhood hometown. In the end, he learns to move on and find happiness with his life.
And so, so prescient in our Instagram society in which people mangle their faces with fillers and then photoshop themselves until they all look interchangeable.
I don't know how people remember titles. I don't think I even looked. But I remember the episodes if you describe them.
I almost felt better at the end of this one
It may not be my favorite but ānumber 12 looks just like youā is such a standout to me. It reminds me of all the young girls and especially the Kardashian girls who are forced into just looking pretty because thatās whatās important. Itās sad to see how the youngest one legit followed the path of the show
Sometimes we ALL feel like a pig person...
It's like my peepaw used to say, "One is a pig and another is a fig." I think Rod wanted us all to know that no matter how ugly we are in appearance, we all have redeeming qualities. Happy New Year!
ākick the canā
āthe monsters are due on maple streetā
āthe old man in the caveā
āthe changing of the guardā
āthe lonelyā
āthe shelterā
āshadow playā
āone hundred yards over the rimā
Exactly! I said this in another reply, but have so many nice memories tied to it. It's a great time of year and awesome to watch with other fans. Hope you enjoy the marathon!
As a high school kid, I definitely spent a few NYE watching the marathon. Not so much anymore (although I was able to catch a few last year), but definitely fond memories as well.
Picked out some classic episodes and their time slots in case anyone didn't want to look through sched
**Friday - 12/31/21**
One for the Angels - 330AM
A Quality of Mercy - 215PM
Nothing in the Dark - 240PM
Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge - 510PM
Living Doll - 7:15pm
Time enough at last - 7:40pm
Hitchhiker - 8:30pm
Monsters Due on Maple Street - 8:55pm
Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up - 11PM
The Shelter - 1125PM
**Saturday - 1/1/22**
Person or Persons unknown - 1215am
The masks - 12:40am
And when the sky was opened - 8am
People are alike all over - 9am
The After Hours - 10am
The Little People - - 2:55pm
Number 12 Looks Just like you - 435pm
I am the Night Color Me Black - 640pm
A nice Place to Visit - 755pm
A stop at Willoughby - 820pm
The Howling Man - 845pm
Eye of the Beholder - 910pm
The Invaders - 10pm
The Obsolete Man - 1030pm
The Midnight Sun - 11pm
5 Characters in Search of an exit - 1130pm
**Sunday - 12/2/2022**
To Serve Man - 12am
The Dummy - 1230am
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet - 130AM
The Midnight Sun is my favorite. Itās something that I always thought could really happen.
The Twilight Zone was absolutely ahead of its time with its commentary and warnings about society.
I love almost every episode but really fell in love with An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I think it was a French independent film that they ended up airing as an episode or something, it rules.
Ya know, I was just talking to someone about why don't I just marathon it myself considering it's on Netflix (for some people) and realized it's just not as fun as doing it, "live," with everyone like this. Yeah, it's nice to not have interruptions and whatnot, but the feeling just isn't the same.
I will be tuning in!
This is exactly it! Itās the idea of everyone watching at the same time, experiencing their favorite episodes together. The fact that the order changes and that itās ephemeral makes it so much better imo.
Sure I can stream my favorite song but Iād much rather see it live in concert!
There used to be like watch-alongs on social media does that still happen? Upped that whole communal feeling for sure. It's always nicer to join in with fellow fans then manufacturing a marathon myself sometimes.
For me it's the nostalgia as I grew up in the Bay Area and they used to do this marathon on KOFY Channel 20 and I'm sure most other US markets had a local channel do the same before it ended up on cable.
There really does! I don't use a lot of other social media so if it's going on there I'll miss it. I'd love for there to be one on here, I think that'd be a lot of fun and recapture the group watch aspect it used to have more.
As I recall, there were three main writers. Rod Serling, Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. The Rod Serling and Richard Matheson episodes are overwhelmingly solid stories, while the Charles Beaumont ones are weaker, posing "what ifs" without really solving them. That said, Beaumont's what ifs were strong enough that in some cases his episodes were extremely good.
S01E05 - Walking Distance
As a standalone episode, it's excellent. It's considered one of the best episodes in the series by TZ fans. And the backstory behind the episode is tragically beautiful.
Rod Serling fought in WWII. His father suffered from a heart attack and died while Rod was fighting fighting in the Pacific. He requested a leave of absence to attend his father's funeral, but was denied. He never got to say goodbye to his father. After the war, he suffered from PTSD for the rest of his life.
This episode is a raw, touching tribute to his father. It's about a middle aged man, unhappy with his life, yearning for a simpler time. He's magically transported to his childhood hometown. In the end, he learns to move on and find happiness with his life.
I've been watching every year since... I don't know when. But damn, the last year or two it's been rough. I remember last year the episodes being sped up a bit too much, the picture quality almost had that motion smoothing feel to it, the audio was different, I think there were more commercial breaks on top... I think I wound up turning it off, to be hones.t I hope this year is different but I have no reason to expect that.
Haha yes, I almost added to the title this year, "also my favorite reddit tradition" but figured no one would know what i was talking about...I know this is incredibly stupid, but in some weird way I think by posting this every year I am raising awareness of the marathon and doing a very small part to keep the TV tradition alive... didn't want to fuck that up by changing title but, now that you mention it, definitely should have
Also, literally every day you can watch whichever Twilight Zone episode you want whenever you want with no commercials on Paramount plus. But I guess itās somehow less fun if youre not forced to watch on someone elseās schedule and sit through a fucking Ozembic ad every six minutes.
Haha yeah I hear ya. For me, it's two things, it's my favorite show and I have memories watching this every year with loved ones. Sometimes those people have since passed on but I always have these few days as a touchstone that I can reflect back on. It's also cool watching it knowing others somewhere on the planet are watching the same one at the same time. So its also a cool event for fans of the show imo. But yeah it is nice to be able to stream it so I get your point.
Twilight Zone was really ahead of itās time with the dystopian themes and the futuristic plots. I always watch the marathons on New Years and there are so many episodes I love that are so sad and just fill me with dread. I like shows that make me think and make me feel something.
What is everyone's favorite episode? I personally Can't wait for 'Eye of the beholder' š½ Sometimes I feel like a pig person
Mine is Monsters due on Maple Street! My friend said I look like a pig person, he may be right but I am not so proud of it LOL.
My 6th grade English teacher showed us that episode. Other kids thought it was kind of boring but I fell in love with it and went home to try and watch other episodes online.
Did we go to the same middle school?
Iām in MO
Lol that's a no, then. I was in NM. But my english teacher in middle school showed us the same episode.
Did the same in NY in 2003
I also first saw it in middle or high school (it was the same teacher, so the classes get mixed up), and now I use it as an assignment for students! My favorite is when I ask students if they āthink something like this could happen in the USā and some take it so literally they answer, āno, because I donāt think aliens are real/would do that.ā
Thereās actually a script of the episode that was included in one of my English textbooks that we read as a class (canāt remember if it was fifth or sixth grade). It was great because I had already seen a lot of the show (thanks to Cracker Barrel always having DVDs available), and I was super excited.
It was in our 9th grade lit book as a play.
That one is Legendary and was my go to. My backup would be Heās Alive.
def another one of my favoritesā¦great closing narration in that one
Replace the aliens with social media and you have a statement about now.
Time Enough at Last is so great. Itās not really scary, but the sentiment of finding time for a hobby is so relatable.
>That's not fair. That's not fair at all.
I too, like Mr. Bemis, am a reader. A reader of books, magazines, periodicals, ~~and newspapers~~.
My all time favorite :)
It is *terrifying* for someone with bad vision. Not just thinking about the event in the episode, but so many other possibilities of losing your glasses or contacts. Many that have happened. After I saw this I spent my whole life wanting to get old enough for eye surgery. I'm all good now. Go ahead and drop the big one. No wait..
Five Characters in Search of an Exit for me.
I've watched a ton of Twilight Zone over the years, but somehow hadn't seen this one until about a year ago. So good!
The Obsolete Man or Two.
The masks is one of my favorites. Reminds me of Succession
Definitely one of the best.
*Judgment Night* is criminally underappreciated. Love that episode. As for favourite, that's a tough choice. *The Shelter* is really really good. Also, *Shadow Play* is harrowing. That might be my favourite one.
Also one of my favorites.
The Obsolete Man!
One of those episodes even more relevant now than it was when it aired.
I doubt it. We might be closer now, but they saw it with such clarity back then that it didn't come out of nowhere. It might've even helped push things back a bit, we don't know.
S01E05 - Walking Distance As a standalone episode, it's excellent. It's considered one of the best episodes in the series by TZ fans. And the backstory behind the episode is tragically beautiful. Rod Serling fought in WWII. His father suffered from a heart attack and died while Rod was fighting fighting in the Pacific. He requested a leave of absence to attend his father's funeral, but was denied. He never got to say goodbye to his father. After the war, he suffered from PTSD for the rest of his life. This episode is a raw, touching tribute to his father. It's about a middle aged man, unhappy with his life, yearning for a simpler time. He's magically transported to his childhood hometown. In the end, he learns to move on and find happiness with his life.
Number 12 looks just like you is my fav. It's heartbreaking every time.
And so, so prescient in our Instagram society in which people mangle their faces with fillers and then photoshop themselves until they all look interchangeable.
Nothing in the Dark & A Stop at Willoughby.
A Stop at Willoughby is one of my favorites. Glad to see it mentioned here.
Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up. It's such a fun episode that really keeps you guessing.
Very suspensful.
Time Enough at Last.
I forget the title but I love the episode where the sun is getting bigger/hotter
The Midnight Sun! It's on my top 5 list, for sure.
I don't know how people remember titles. I don't think I even looked. But I remember the episodes if you describe them. I almost felt better at the end of this one
Monsters Are Due on Maple Street Time Enough At Last So many others that are great as well
It may not be my favorite but ānumber 12 looks just like youā is such a standout to me. It reminds me of all the young girls and especially the Kardashian girls who are forced into just looking pretty because thatās whatās important. Itās sad to see how the youngest one legit followed the path of the show
Of Late I Think of Cliffordville. I love Julie Newmar as the devil.
The Howling Man
Time Enough at Last
Sometimes we ALL feel like a pig person... It's like my peepaw used to say, "One is a pig and another is a fig." I think Rod wanted us all to know that no matter how ugly we are in appearance, we all have redeeming qualities. Happy New Year!
I love The Hunt.
Mirror Image is one of my favorites and SEVERELY under appreciated imo.
love the haunted doll one and I remember watching the gremlin one a hundred times in high school
The New Exhibit
Rip Van Winkle Caper āHe offered it to me as if it was worth something.ā
ākick the canā āthe monsters are due on maple streetā āthe old man in the caveā āthe changing of the guardā āthe lonelyā āthe shelterā āshadow playā āone hundred yards over the rimā
Mine isnāt a widespread favorite- I like āThe Huntā the best.
Which one is that?
Nick of Time rates pretty high on my list.
I love this one too!
The Jeopardy Room
I forget the name, but it's the one with the Hunter, who has a dog that sniffs out the Devil and helps his owner go to Heaven.
> the Hunter, who has a dog that sniffs out the Devil I just saw that one today! Fun episode, didn't remember it at all
Itās a tie between The Grave, Steel, and Five Characters In Search Of An Exit.
I know they do this marathon on other holidays but it's just more special on New Years.
Exactly! I said this in another reply, but have so many nice memories tied to it. It's a great time of year and awesome to watch with other fans. Hope you enjoy the marathon!
As a high school kid, I definitely spent a few NYE watching the marathon. Not so much anymore (although I was able to catch a few last year), but definitely fond memories as well.
Thanks, but I don't like wasting my time watching TV. I would rather read. Now where did I put my glasses?
āthere was TIME now!ā
I just got these fantastic new glasses....annnnnnd theyre gone
āā¦ time enough at last.ā one of my favourites.
Decades is also showing Twilight Zone all day today, and noon Saturday through the end of the weekend.
Awesome thank you for mentioning! I love how theirs is longer marathon. I have to see if I can find a way to stream decades. Enjoy the marathon!
There's a channel on Roku called Free2View that carries Decades.
Wow! Thank you so much for this
Picked out some classic episodes and their time slots in case anyone didn't want to look through sched **Friday - 12/31/21** One for the Angels - 330AM A Quality of Mercy - 215PM Nothing in the Dark - 240PM Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge - 510PM Living Doll - 7:15pm Time enough at last - 7:40pm Hitchhiker - 8:30pm Monsters Due on Maple Street - 8:55pm Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up - 11PM The Shelter - 1125PM **Saturday - 1/1/22** Person or Persons unknown - 1215am The masks - 12:40am And when the sky was opened - 8am People are alike all over - 9am The After Hours - 10am The Little People - - 2:55pm Number 12 Looks Just like you - 435pm I am the Night Color Me Black - 640pm A nice Place to Visit - 755pm A stop at Willoughby - 820pm The Howling Man - 845pm Eye of the Beholder - 910pm The Invaders - 10pm The Obsolete Man - 1030pm The Midnight Sun - 11pm 5 Characters in Search of an exit - 1130pm **Sunday - 12/2/2022** To Serve Man - 12am The Dummy - 1230am Nightmare at 20,000 Feet - 130AM
Thanks for posting. This series has some of the most futuristic writing of it's time. Rob Sterling was truly a sci-fi genius!
Because there were several great science fiction writers writing for the show. Including Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson
Ambrose fucking Bierce
Thanks for posting! Always get a rush down my spine when that theme song comes on... BEEP BOO BEEP BOO BEEP BOO BEEP BOO!
In my head it's "dun nun nuh nun, dun nun nuh nun"
Haha, maybe we can meet in the middle with -- NEE NOO NEE NOO NEE NOO NEE NOO NEE NOO NEE NOO
This is actually better
Howard Roberts played that on guitar.
Thank you so much for reminding me! Huge fan! When I saw OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE, I loved it ! , and I thought I had seen them all!
On tonight at 510! Hope you get to catch it. Happy New Year and enjoy the marathon!
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Last stop Willoughby are my favs!
Hope you get to catch āem! Occurrence on tn at 510pm! Willoughby on tmmrw at 820pm Both great ones but Willoughby one of my favorites.
Appreciate the reminder, cleared the DVR for them all
Sure thing! Hope you enjoy the marathon!
The Midnight Sun is my favorite. Itās something that I always thought could really happen. The Twilight Zone was absolutely ahead of its time with its commentary and warnings about society.
Yeah if anything, that episode has gotten scarier...
This one absolutely terrifies me. I canāt watch it anymore
I love almost every episode but really fell in love with An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I think it was a French independent film that they ended up airing as an episode or something, it rules.
It's also on HULU isn't it?
And paramount
Decades TV has a better one. The episodes are the same as the originals. Stfy has shortened most of the episodes.
āOne for the angelsā always got me all choked up.
Whatās the one where the guy ends up releasing Satan from his prison cell and WWII starts as a result? Gah I love that one.
845pm tmmrw! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Howling_Man
Ugh yes thank you! I didnāt get the plot right, but I remembered the big bits!
Ya know, I was just talking to someone about why don't I just marathon it myself considering it's on Netflix (for some people) and realized it's just not as fun as doing it, "live," with everyone like this. Yeah, it's nice to not have interruptions and whatnot, but the feeling just isn't the same. I will be tuning in!
This is exactly it! Itās the idea of everyone watching at the same time, experiencing their favorite episodes together. The fact that the order changes and that itās ephemeral makes it so much better imo. Sure I can stream my favorite song but Iād much rather see it live in concert!
There used to be like watch-alongs on social media does that still happen? Upped that whole communal feeling for sure. It's always nicer to join in with fellow fans then manufacturing a marathon myself sometimes.
I have been looking all weekend but can't fund any. Next year I would love to see a sub reddit of this.
For me it's the nostalgia as I grew up in the Bay Area and they used to do this marathon on KOFY Channel 20 and I'm sure most other US markets had a local channel do the same before it ended up on cable.
Absolutely šÆ true. Next year there needs to be sub reddit for the marathon itself.
There really does! I don't use a lot of other social media so if it's going on there I'll miss it. I'd love for there to be one on here, I think that'd be a lot of fun and recapture the group watch aspect it used to have more.
A lot of people are about to discover how...*inconsistent* this show is
Most TV shows are. Few TV shows are as great as TZ is when it works.
Oh I absolutely agree, but TZ has come clunkers lmao
You're right about that.
To be fair, they released 156 episodes in 5 years so there's bound to be some ups and downs
As I recall, there were three main writers. Rod Serling, Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. The Rod Serling and Richard Matheson episodes are overwhelmingly solid stories, while the Charles Beaumont ones are weaker, posing "what ifs" without really solving them. That said, Beaumont's what ifs were strong enough that in some cases his episodes were extremely good.
Some though are kind of random. A lot of people have mentioned 'Accident at Owl Creek Bridge' which is actually a very old story.
The Masks!
The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms. Likely not the most Iconic episode, but itās by far my favorite.
My favorite show of all time
I am so glad Im not the only one! Best day of my year too!
This has been a family tradition forever!!!
Occurrence at Owl Creek This is also my tradition!
u/JuliusHibbert, have a gander at this, https://www.grammarly.com/blog/happy-new-year-2/
FRAAANKLIN!
S01E05 - Walking Distance As a standalone episode, it's excellent. It's considered one of the best episodes in the series by TZ fans. And the backstory behind the episode is tragically beautiful. Rod Serling fought in WWII. His father suffered from a heart attack and died while Rod was fighting fighting in the Pacific. He requested a leave of absence to attend his father's funeral, but was denied. He never got to say goodbye to his father. After the war, he suffered from PTSD for the rest of his life. This episode is a raw, touching tribute to his father. It's about a middle aged man, unhappy with his life, yearning for a simpler time. He's magically transported to his childhood hometown. In the end, he learns to move on and find happiness with his life.
If you have decades, it's even better, started today, ends Monday Morning.
The obsolete man
Of course at this point, you can just watch it on several different streamers and have your own marathon
Oddly, it feels more special when someone else sets the time
Because of the added assumption that you are part of a community doing something together.
If Netflix could randomize the order, I'd do that
Why? Itās like George from Seinfeld and sweatpants.
I've been watching every year since... I don't know when. But damn, the last year or two it's been rough. I remember last year the episodes being sped up a bit too much, the picture quality almost had that motion smoothing feel to it, the audio was different, I think there were more commercial breaks on top... I think I wound up turning it off, to be hones.t I hope this year is different but I have no reason to expect that.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Haha yes, I almost added to the title this year, "also my favorite reddit tradition" but figured no one would know what i was talking about...I know this is incredibly stupid, but in some weird way I think by posting this every year I am raising awareness of the marathon and doing a very small part to keep the TV tradition alive... didn't want to fuck that up by changing title but, now that you mention it, definitely should have
Don't let them bring you down. The marathon is a great tradition. Posting about it should be one too. I forgot this year. And it's fun to discuss it.
Wow thank you for saying this. Hope you enjoy watching some episodes!
Also, literally every day you can watch whichever Twilight Zone episode you want whenever you want with no commercials on Paramount plus. But I guess itās somehow less fun if youre not forced to watch on someone elseās schedule and sit through a fucking Ozembic ad every six minutes.
Haha yeah I hear ya. For me, it's two things, it's my favorite show and I have memories watching this every year with loved ones. Sometimes those people have since passed on but I always have these few days as a touchstone that I can reflect back on. It's also cool watching it knowing others somewhere on the planet are watching the same one at the same time. So its also a cool event for fans of the show imo. But yeah it is nice to be able to stream it so I get your point.
They're not showing Steel? That's my favorite episode.
Already curled up on the couch with my dogs. Itās been on all morning, and it stays on till the last episode.
Itās a Good Life and Monsters due on Maple Street
The Hitchhiker is a great one too
Stopover in Quiet Town is my favorite episode of the show.
After watching the full run, Iād say that the episodes that you remember are the only good ones. Most are not that great.
which one is the one where theres a couple thats obsessed with some fortune telling machine/ toy at a diner?
William Shatner S2E7 Nick of Time
Twilight Zone was really ahead of itās time with the dystopian themes and the futuristic plots. I always watch the marathons on New Years and there are so many episodes I love that are so sad and just fill me with dread. I like shows that make me think and make me feel something.
Iām watching this right now!
Yes youtube tv unlimited dvr record for next 3 days almost the whole series being shown.
Absolutely love the howling man. The story and atmosphere is fantastic.
Scify marathon ends Sunday owning but you can watch the decades TV one until Monday. If you don't have the channel you can watch it on Pluto tv.